Bottle breaker



Nov. 21, 1967 D. J. MORGENSON' 3,353,756

BOTTLE BREAKER Fil ed Oct. 25, 1965 w W 2 4 W 6 M. I W 1 W W1 ,A rTORNE) United States Patent 3,353,756 BOTTLE BREAKER Donald J.Morgenson, Racine, Wis., assignor to Shatter King Mfg. Co. Inc., Racine,Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Filed Oct. 23, 1965, Ser. No. 502,975 5Claims. (Cl. 241-99) This invention relates to a bottle breaker.

It is a general object of this invention to provide a bottle breakerwhich is simple and sturdy in its construction, is reliable in itsfunction, is safe in its use in that the operator and the mechanism arenot likely to be injured, is readily and easily manufactured andmaintained, and which is compact in its construction and suitable foruse in conjunction with a trash container for the broken glass.

A more specific object of this invention is to provide a bottle breakerwhich has provision for protecting itself against damage in the eventthat an unbreakable item, such as one which is not made of glass, is fedinto the unit. Still another object of this invention is to provide abottle breaker which thoroughly breaks and shatters a bottle or otherglass item in a matter of only a very short time such as only a fractionof a second.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide a bottle breakerwhich is designed to be readily and easily adapted to any desiredcapacity of accommodating the broken glass as well as handling the glassitem in various sizes prior. to being broken.

Other objects and advantages become apparent upon reading the followingdescription in light of. the accompanying. drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevational sectional view showing a fragment of apreferred embodiment of this bottle breaker, and with the view takenalong the line 1-1 of FIG. ,2.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1 showing afragment of the latter.

The bottle breakeris shown to include a lower housing which ispreferably circular and extending below a line'll designating the top ofthe lower housing 10. The housing 10 is shown broken away at its lowerend, and it may of course be supported on a pedestal, legs, or the like,and legs 13 are shown in FIG. lonly and a fragment of the leg 13 isshown. It would of course be obvious to one skilled in the art that theleg 13, along with similar legs, support the housing 10 in any desiredposition about a floor or the like.

The housing 10 is a complete enclosure with respect to its uprightwalls, but of course the top 11 and the bottom (not fully shown butindicated at 14) are both open so that a bottle or other glass itemdesignated 16 and shown in dotted lines may be inserted through the top11 and will be ejected out the bottom 14. The housing is also shown toinclude the top section 17 which is suitably assembled with the bottomsection 10 and is also enclosed around its sides. The section 17 alsosuitably carries a shelf or chute 18 which forms a passageway from anopening 19 down to a cylinder 21 secured in the lower section 10. Theremay also be swinging doors 22 which are suitably mounted and hinged inany common manner on the upper section 17 so that one can insert thebottle 16 into the upper section 17 and the chute 18.

The actual breaker mechanism itself is shown to include a rotatablemember generally designated 23 and two arms 24 which are pivotallyconnected to the member 23. An electric motor 26 is shown mounted bymeans of a bracket 27 and the frame or support 28 which is disposedwithin the housing lower portion 10. A circular top wall 29 is alsoattached to the frame 28, as is a circular bottom wall 31. The walls 29and 31 have suitable openings for respectively accommodating the topopening and bottom 7, 3,353,756 Patented Nov. 21, 1967 opening of thetube 21, and such wall openings are designated 32 in FIG. 2. Of coursemost of the walls 29 and 31 are removed in FIG. 2 except for thefragment of the top wall 29 shown encompassing the tube 21. Also, theframe or support member 28 is shown to be Y-shaped to extend in thethree branches shown and to provide adequate support for the breakermechanism.

Thus the motor 26 has its drive shaft 33 extending therebelow to be indriving relation with a belt 34 which rotates a shaft 36 on therotatable member 23. Bearings 37 and 38 support the shaft 36 and a shaft39 which is coaxial with the shaft 36 and is actually in the nature ofan extension or a part of the shaft 36 in that it is coaxial. Connectingmembers 41 and 42 are afiixed to the shafts 36 and 39respectively andthus the members 41 and 42 rotate with the shafts 36 and 39 through thedrive of the motor 26.

The members 41 and 42 in turn carry rotatable shafts or trunnions 43 and44, there being two of each on the opposite ends of the member 41 andlikewise on the member 42. The arms 24 are then secured on the trunnions43 and 44 to be pivotally secured with respect to the rotatable member23 and particularly with respect to these members 41 and 42.

Thus the arms 24 can pivot radially outwardly, to the positions whichthey are shown, and they can pivot radially inwardly, both positionsbeing with respect to their mounting pins or shafts 43, 44.

It will of course also be noted that the breaker tube 21 has an opening46 through which the arms 24 can move as the member 23 rotates andbrings the arms 24 across the tube 21 in shattering a bottle against theinner walls of the tube 21 or simply under the impact of the arms 24. Itwill be further noted that the arms 24 are provided with openings 47, atthe inner ends thereof, and these openings receive the thinner outerends 48 of the arms 24 when and if the arms 24 pivot radially inwardly,as shown in the dotted lines representing the arm 24 as viewed on theright in FIG. 1. This pivotal position would occur when an unbreakableitem might be dropped into the tube 21 and the high speed rotation ofthe arms 24 would cause them to bounce back or actually pivot inwardlywith respect to their support members 41 and 42. In this manner, themechanism would not in any way be damaged as it automatically providesfor the retraction or inward pivot of the arms 24 when they meet anunbreakable object as mentioned.

Under high speed rotation, the arms 24 will normally be extendedradially outwardly in the solid line position shown. Also, the arms 24are held radially outwardly by means of two tension springs 49 and 51which are connected between the pins 52 aflixed to the shafts 43 and 44.Thus the springs pull the pins 52 radially inwardly, since the springs49 and 51 are located eccentrically with respect to the shafts 43 and44, and this in turn causes the arms 24 to be extended radiallyoutwardly to the positions shown in solid lines.

It will therefore be understood that with the motor 26 operating at acustomary speed of say 1725 rpm, and with the provision of two arms 24,each bottle would be hit as much as sixty times for each second that thebottle is in the tube 21. Thus the unit is required to be run only avery short time, possibly less than one second actual time, for completeshattering of a bottle, such as a normal size quart or fifth liquorbottle. Of course there would also be a trash container (not shown)placed below the bottom opening 14 for catching the shattered glass sothat the glass can be disposed of. The entire idea of course is toreduce the volume required for storing the bottle 16 when it is to bedisposed of.

The tube 21 is thus a breaker tube and an abutment and its interiorprovides an abutment surface against which the bottles can be thrown bythe arms 24. The tube confines the bottle and, subsequently, the brokenglass, as desired. The tube opening 46 is only slightly larger than theheight of the arms 24 so the latter fit closely with the tube 21. Theheight of the opening 46 is shown to be less than twice the height ofthe arm 24, in FIG. 1.

While a specific embodiment of this invention has been shown anddescribed, it should be obvious that certain changes could be madetherein, and the scope of this invention should be determined only bythe appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A bottle breaker comprising a rotatably mounted member, an armpivotally carried by said member and with said arm extending to aradially outward position beyond the extent of said member and beingfully retractable to a radially inward position in response to strikingan unbreakable object, an enclosure disposed adjacent said arm andhaving an opening for receiving said arm when the latter is in theradially outward position and with said arm being clear of saidenclosure and rotatable therepast with the rotation of said member whensaid arm is in theradially inward position, rotation mechanism connectedto said member for rotating the latter, and a chute in registry withsaid enclosure for guiding into said enclosure bottles dropped into saidchute.

2. A bottle breaker comprising a rotatably mounted member, a pair ofarms pivotally carried by said member on diametrically opposite sidesthereof and with said arms extending to a radially outward positionbeyond the extent of said member and being fully retractable to aradially inward position in response to striking an unbreakable object,rotation mechanism connected to said member for rotating the latter,said arms being arranged with the extending ends thereof disposed clearof the other of said arms and said member when one of said arms isretracted to said radially inward position, an abutment disposedadjacent the circular path of the radially extended position of saidarms and providing a passage for said arms when the latter is in theradially outward position and providing an abutment surface againstwhich bottles are thrown upon being struck by the rotation of said arms.

3. A bottle breaker comprising a rotatably mounted member, an armpivotally carried by said member and with said arm extending to aradially outward position beyond the extent of said member and beingfully retractable to a radially inward position in response to strikingan unbreakable object, yieldable means connected to said arm toreleasably retain the latter in the radially outward position andfreeing said arm for pivoting to said radially inward position when saidarm strikes an unbreakable object, rotation mechanismconnected to saidmember for rotating the latter, an enclosure disposed adjacent thecircular path of rotation of said arm and having an opening forreceiving said arm when the latter is in the radially outward positionand with said arm being clear of said enclosure and rotatable therepastWith the rotation of said member when said arm is in the radially inwardposition, and a chute in registry with said enclosure for guiding intosaid enclosure bottles dropped into said chute.

4. A bottle breaker comprising a rotatably mounted member including anarm extending to a radially outward position on said member, rotationmechanism connected to said member for rotating the latter, an enclosuredisposed adjacent the circular path of rotation of said arm and havingan opening for receiving said arm when the latter is rotated therepastwith the rotation of said memher, and a chute in registry with saidenclosure for guiding into said enclosure bottles dropped into saidchute.

5. A bottle breaker comprising a rotatably mounted member, an armpivotally carried by said member and with said arm extending to aradially outward position beyond the extent of said member and beingfully retractable to a radially inward position in response to strikingan unbreakable object, a tension spring connected to said arm toreleasably retain the latter in the radially outward position and permitsaid arm to pivot radially to said inward position when said arm strikesan unbreakable object, rotation mechanism connected to said member forrotating the latter, an abutment disposed adjacent the circular path ofrotation of said arm in a position to have said arm throw a bottlethereagainst and providing a passage for said arm when the latter is inthe radially outward position and with said arm being clear of saidabutment and rotatable therepast with the rotation of said member whensaid arm is in the radially inward position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,509,242 5/1950 Miller et a1.241194 X 2,558,255 6/1951 Johnson et al. 24199 2,828,086 3/1958 Macernon241194 X WILLIAM W. DYER, JR., Primary Examiner.

JAMES M. MEISTER, Examiner.

1. A BOTTL BREAKER COMPRISING A ROTATABLY MOUNTED MEMBER, AN ARMPIVOTALLY CARRIED BY SAID MEMBER AND WITH SAID ARM EXTENDING TO ARADIALLY OUTWARD POSITION BEYOND THE EXTENT OF SAID MEMBER AND BEINGFULLY RETRACTABLE TO A RADIALLY INWARD POSITION IN RESPONSE TO STRIKINGAN UNBREAKABLE OBJECT, AN ENCLOSURE DISPOSED ADJACENT SAID ARM ANDHAVING AN OPENING FOR RECEIVING SAID ARM WHEN THE LATTER IS IN THERADIALLY OUTWARD POSITION AND WITH SAID ARM BEING CLEAR OF SAIDENCLOSURE AND ROTATABLE THEREPAST WITH THE ROTATION OF SAID MEMBER WHENSAID ARM IS IN THE RADIALLY INWARD POSITION, ROTATION MECHANISMCONNECTED TO SAID MEMBER FOR ROTATING THE LATTER, AND A CHUTE INREGISTRY WITH SAID ENCLOSURE FOR GUIDING INTO SAID ENCLOSURE BOTTLESDROPPED INTO SAID CHUTE.